An early alarm call from Willow meant we were out on the patch by 6.45am.Clear blue skies with a slight north wind made me think that maybe birds would of moved on and in the event it seemed quieter but in the end , it was obvious some birds had moved on and had been replaced by another wave of migrants.
The magic hedge was still producing birds but migrants were more evenly spread around the patch. The magic one did however produce the 82 end species for the patch for the year and it was an unexpected one at that, it came in the form of a Treecreeper , a rare bird on the patch so really good to see .
We appeared to have had a small fall of Chiffchaff with 11 plus seen today and more heard in the surrounding hedges , along with them came 2 Willow Warblers but there were more no doubt lurking in the bushes.
Other migrants seen on the patch were 2 plus Redstart (its been really good Autumn for these birds, after a very slow spring ), 4 Blackcap, Whitethroat , and again a good count of 4 Lesser Whitethroat , this species has been passing through in good numbers this Autumn . I still managed to find 4 plus Spotted Flycatchers in two different localities , no doubt some being the local breeding birds and others passing migrants.
Overhead there were many more less passing migrants with just 28 plus Swallows trickling south wards and 45 plus House Martins , most were over Town Street Farm and gave the impression of being local breeding birds , gone were the Swallows from yesterday ,but it shows the passage of migrants heading southwards .
The best bird overhead was a passing Yellow Wagtail which called as it passed south east .A flock of 25 Goldfinch passed over heading towards a large thistle bank near the Church.
Walking across the pastures produced a single Skylark and a single Stock Dove.
On the raptor front the usual 3 species which appear to be in residence at the moment showed with 3 Buzzard, male Kestrel and a Sparrow Hawk .
A Green woodpecker and 2 Greater Spotted Woodpecker made themselves known.
So the species tally for the patch advances to 82 for the year and so far the Autumn has been good , I get the feeling we may be due for something really good to turn up ,if we can just get a nice easterly breeze ,well heres hoping
